1. Ranavalona I sought reduced economic and political ties with European powers, repelled a French attack on the coastal town of Foulpointe, and took vigorous measures to eradicate the small but growing Malagasy Christian movement initiated under Radama I by members of the London Missionary Society.
Ranavalona I had a standing army of between 20,000 and 30,000 Merina soldiers, whom she deployed to pacify outlying regions of the island and further expand the realm.
Ranavalona I furthermore declared that any child from this union would be first in the line of succession after Radama.
Ramavo took the throne name Ranavalona I, then followed royal custom by systematically capturing and putting to death her political rivals, including Rakotobe, his family, and other members of Radama's family, much as Radama had done to the queen's own family upon his succession to the throne.
Ranavalona I's rise to power occurred in a cultural milieu that favored men over women in the political sphere.
Ranavalona I continued the wars of expansion conducted by her predecessor, Radama I, in an effort to extend her realm over the entire island, and imposed strict punishments on those who were judged as having acted in opposition to her will.
Ranavalona I maintained the tradition of ruling with the support of advisers drawn largely from the aristocratic class.
Ranavalona I's first chief adviser was a young army officer from Namehana named Andriamihaja, who served as first minister from 1829 to 1830.
Ranavalona I was immediately captured in his home and killed.
Ranavalona I served as Prime Minister from 1852 to 1862 before being exiled to the royal city of Ambohimanga for his part in a plot against the queen's son, Radama II.
Ranavalona I strengthened her relationship with the public through occasional kabary and fulfilled the traditional role of the Merina sovereign as bestower of hasina by enacting traditional rituals, including the fandroana, tributes to the royal idols, and offerings of vodiondry and jaka beef at customary occasions.
Queen Ranavalona I continued the military incursions initiated under Radama I to pacify neighboring kingdoms and maintain their submission to Merina rule.
An average of 4,500 soldiers died each year for the greater part of Ranavalona I's reign, contributing to severe depopulation in Imerina.
One of the chief measures by which Ranavalona I maintained order within her realm was through the traditional practice of trial by the ordeal of tangena.
Ranavalona I forbade Malagasy people from being baptized or attending Christian services.
Ranavalona I allowed missionaries free rein in operating the printing press and exempted from military service all Malagasy personnel trained to operate the press.
The freedom allowed to LMS and Malagasy Christians to print religious materials and teach religion in the state schools during the first six years of Ranavalona I's reign allowed the religion to become firmly established among a small but growing group of converts in and around the capital.
In 1831 Ranavalona I authorized Malagasy attendance at church services, administration of the sacrament, and baptism of her subjects.
The conversion of major religious, political and social leaders sparked a backlash that led Ranavalona I to become increasingly wary of the political and cultural effects of Christianity, which she saw as leading the Malagasy to forsake the ancestors and their traditions.
Ranavalona I furthermore acknowledged the valuable intellectual and technological contributions that European missionaries had made to the advancement of her country, and invited them to continue working to that end on the condition that their proselytizing would cease:.
The precise number of Malagasy citizens put to death for religious reasons during Ranavalona I's reign is difficult to state with certainty.
Ranavalona I's reign was marked by a struggle between France and Britain to increase their influence in Madagascar.
Ranavalona I pursued a policy of self-reliance to limit the influence of foreign powers.
Shortly after taking the throne, Ranavalona I annulled the Anglo-Merina treaty that had been concluded between Radama and British envoys, and refused to continue receiving annual payments from Britain in exchange for adherence to the stipulations of the treaty.
Ranavalona I provided him with the labor and materials to establish factories that met the material needs of her army, thereby ending the kingdom's dependence on Europe for modern weaponry.
Ranavalona I was not told the letter included a request for French military intervention that could have potentially brought Madagascar under French rule.
Ranavalona I traveled to Ranavalona's court in May 1857 in the company of the celebrated 19th-century Austrian globetrotter Ida Pfeiffer, who became an unwitting participant in the plot.
Ranavalona I documented her perspective on these events in one of her late works.
The account claimed that Ranavalona I deliberately allowed the plot to unfold almost to its conclusion in order to ascertain the loyalties of her members of government.
On 16 August 1861, Ranavalona I died in her sleep at the Manjakamiadana palace in the Rova of Antananarivo.
Ranavalona I's body was laid in a coffin made of silver piastres in a tomb at the royal city of Ambohimanga.
Ranavalona I's bones were placed within the tomb of Queen Rasoherina.